LA to LA 2011

latola2011

Friday, July 22, 2011

It was an awesome day. Mostly downhill and we just cruised through the burbs. The winds were kind and it was the most enjoyable day of riding in a very long time. Maybe the best of the trip

we got lunch at a cool burger joint. the miles peeled off and it was basically a victory lap. we were very nostalgic all day and spirits were high.

we stopped to buy a marker/poster for our sign and then some champagne to blow all over the beach. we sprinted the last 5 miles and even saw Sami. She said we looked crazy and were blocking the entire lane of traffic. I frantically yelled at everyone to get outta the way while Greg almost got hit by a car 1 block from the beach. Unbelievable. It was a hell of a finish. fitting.

The celebration was great. Sam took a bunch of pics for us and we took it all in. We then got showered up, got a driving tour of LA and the surrounding area, and got Mexican food. We're done.

It got hot again but not quite as bad as the past couple of days. We had a stiff headwind all day. Brutal

I missed a turn but it ended up that it didn't matter because our original route was a dirt road. We had no choice but to ride illegally on I-10. A cop sniped us about 8 miles in. He was really nice and set us up with a good route off the highway. We hit more wind but cruised on.

We made it to Banning and ate at an ok italian restaurant. Bad service. We then booked a hotel 27 miles away and had a great ride to it. We got into the Motel 6, bought some snacks, and hit the bed to dream about our final day.

HOTT HOTT HOTT extra Ts to signify just how hot it was. Definitely the highest temps Ive ever experienced. Over 110 degrees. We started out the day by illegally riding on I-40. No cops caught us though and we ended up getting to 66. At this point I was dying on the side of the road when a strange man who worked at a tire company offered water 10 miles up the road. Awesome. I used what I had liberally and rallied incredibly well. I was a new man and I battled well.

We hung out with an old timer at the tire shop who had seen some things. He built the shop himself 50 years ago. Cool. Then we cruised to Amboy where we got drinks and snacks. Bad service though and no real food.

Then bill lilly and friends pulled over and talked/took pictures with us. Some country folk so to speak...

We climbed and climbed for a long time and finally cruised down the hill only to find out that the hotel was 19 miles further than expected. Tragic. We got in at 330 and crashed hard. Tough day for sure.

So we ate breakfast and then I scored my desert gear- an American flag bandana and some sunglasses with flaming skulls down the side. The desert changes people apparently.

It got hot. We rolled on I40 for a quite a while. It was alright. My tires are terrible. I had more flat tire troubles do to a couple of small shards of metal. Don't buy panaracer tires.

We got Panda Garden and continued soldierin down the road. We climbed an extremely rough hill on 66. Steep but manageable and then we cruised for a huge downhill all the way to maybe 5 miles outta Needles. It was awesome. Maybe 12/13 miles of mid grade downhills.

We awoke lazily and rolled to the market for lunch. Stellar sandwich. We hit up the gift shop and started touristing hard. The Grand Canyon was absolutely amazing and the pictures will turn out stellar. We got great ones that made us look like we were falling off the rim.

This is where we met out pal Robert from Myrtle Beach. He was a great dude and we hung out all afternoon. Good times.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

well this was a long day. We woke up pretty early at our little cliff spot. It was actually beautiful. Due to the fact that AZ doesnt observe daylight savings time we awoke at 4:15 local time. We were on the road by 5:30. We started off hot and really cruised all the way to Tuba City. The miles were peeling off and so were our clothes as the day warmed.

Then the winds started blowing and we started climbing. We slowed down lots :( The last two miles to Cameron, the last significant town before the Grand Canyon, were very challenging. We posted up and I had the best popsicle of my life. Edy's strawberry. Divine. Two french girls posted up next to us. They were passable.

Then we started climbing. And climbing. And then we climbed some more. For probably close to 6 hours and 30 miles or so. Tiring. Greg conquered some demons and I had a suprisingly pleasant attitude. This can be attributed to knowing that it was all hotels the rest of the way.

We finally rolled in at around 1130 making for over 18 hours of riding. Brutal. The hotel room was great and we passed out hard.